Okay, so Kira is going to Cardassia to help the Cardassians form a rebel movement. She will stick out like a sore thumb with her Bajoran nose, and many Cardassians will hate her and not want to listen to her because she is Bajoran. Why didn't Bashir just make her look like a Cardassian?

Speaking of Bashir, he states that it is very difficult to keep a supply of synthetic organs on hand in a battlefield situation, and that "the holy grail of organ replacement is to be able to find a way to inject the patient with undifferentiated tissue, so that it can become whatever organ is needed." Yes, that's a real problem. If only there was something like a small pill one could give a person which would cause them to immediately grow a whole fully functional replacement organ, like a kidney say, in just a few minutes! You know, like the pill that Doctor McCoy gave to the old woman in the hospital in Star Trek IV. A technology that would be about a century old by Bashir's time!

Factoid :

René Echevarria had originally planned that Odo would be a kind of "Typhoid Mary", who spread the virus amongst the Founders but was not affected by it himself. However, as he wrote the script it became apparent that the virus really didn't have a great deal of effect on the plot if it only affected the Female Changeling and the distant, unseen Great Link. So he convinced Ron Moore that Odo had to become sick himself.

Another change was to how Damar was handled. The original plan was that he would act as a spy, passing Dominion secrets to the Allies. However, this would mean that none of the main characters would have scenes with him. As Damar was proving very popular with fans, it was felt that he needed to be hanging around with the main characters. Thus he became an open rebel leading a popular uprising rather than a spy. One change this brought was Kira going to Cardassia. Originally the plan was that she and Odo would search for the cure to the Founder virus. But then with Kira going to Cardassia it was felt that Odo had to go too, since it would be wrong to split the couple up.

Ron Moore summed up the changes to Damar by declaring that "Damar is Spartacus!"

Worf is absent from this episode, since Michael Dorn directed it.

Plotline

The Cardassian rebellion continues, but they are ill prepared for a gurilla war against a vastly superior enemy. They need an expert in terrorist tactics - and fortunately, Sisko happens to have one to hand. But are the Cardassians willing to take orders from none other than Colonel Kira? Meanwhile, Bashir makes a startling discovery regarding Odo and the disease affecting the Founders.